Billy Joel, The #8 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

Billy titled his next album after the street which served as world headquarters for CBS/Columbia--52nd Street.  

 

Although Joel has always been a consummate live performer, work in the studio was a bit of a challenge.  "To help Billy find the right voice when he was recording," Ramone told Mix Online, "I made him a control box with Echoplexes, MXR phasers and flangers.  We labeled the buttons:  "Elvis', 'Doo-wop', 'R&B', etc. and put it right on the piano so he could switch the effects around until he hit one he liked.  "My Life" rose to #3 in the U.S. and also is included in The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

52nd Street has topped seven million in sales in the U.S. alone, giving Billy 17 million in sales in these amazing back-to-back albums.  This is "Big Shot".

 

Joel was recognized for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the Grammy Awards.  "Honesty" also stalled well short of the Top 10 at #24, making it yet another early Joel song to be included among The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.  People still didn't get how amazing this man was.

The album has now sold over seven million copies and reached #1 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, four countries with some of the sharpest music fans in the world.  Joel performed at the Havana Jam festival in Cuba in 1979, with footage of his show featured on the documentary Havana Jam '79.  

 

This is another gem on the album, never released as a single but nevertheless got heavy FM radio airplay.  Billy used the knife and cutting imagery as a metaphor for emotional manipulation, and the great piano riff was inspired by Stevie Winwood's playing on Traffic's "Shanghai Noodle Factory".  "Stiletto" is another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

Billy has said that this song should have been written by his father Howard to his mother Rosalind.  Howard lived in Cuba after leaving his native Germany to escape the evil Nazis, before emigrating to America.  Here is "Rosalinda's Eyes".

 

Joel was nominated for Favorite Pop (Rock) Male Artist at the American Music Awards.   "Zanzibar" is a song that has been building momentum and airplay over the last few years.  It's very sound pays homage to fellow New Yorkers Steely Dan, and features a great trumpet solo from Freddie Hubbard.

Billy featured New Wave on his 1980 album Glass Houses.  That album, recorded at Ramone's A&R Studio, was the first ever released on compact disk.  We hear the sound of shattered glass at the opening of this song, which matches the cover of the album in which Billy is pictured about to throw a rock at an all-glass house.  

 

In that respect, Joel is making fun of the saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and this is Billy's reply to critics.  "You May Be Right" was the first single, and it jumped to #6 in Canada and #7 in the U.S., another of Billy's million-sellers.

 

Glass Houses was another #1 album in the United States and Canada and hit the Top 10 nearly everywhere else.  "In my neighborhood, somebody hits you, you hit them right back," Joel said about this song.  The former boxer landed a knockout punch with this one.  "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me" gave Billy his first #1 song in both the U.S. and Canada, which was not only one of The Top 10 Songs of 1980* but also one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The album leaped to #1 and stayed there for six weeks, and has cleared six million in sales.  That's an incredible 24 million in sales for three consecutive albums.  The Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male is mostly given for one song, but once again, Billy was recognized for the entire album.  Although this one soared to #1 on the AC chart and #4 in Canada, it mysteriously stalled at #19 on the Popular chart.  Joel said the Spanish feel to "Don't Ask Me Why" was influenced by time he spent in Madrid.  

 

Joel had made the jump to superstardom, as evidenced by his five sold-out performances at New York City's Madison Square Garden, which recognized him with the Garden's Gold Ticket Award for selling more than 100,000 tickets.  "Sometimes A Fantasy" became a Top Track*, and, although the record company was finally persuaded to release it as a single, by that time momentum had faded and it stalled at #36.

 

Billy won an American Music Award for Favorite Pop (Rock) Album and was nominated for Favorite Pop (Rock) Male Artist for a second straight year. This is another great song from the album about two lovers not taking chances and "Sleeping With The Television On".

Another of Joel's gems is "All For Leyna", about a man's obsession with a woman after having a one-night stand with her.

Joel has given us an incredible collection of songs over the years, and Inside The Rock Era has much more--stay tuned!